Day 5 Toronto to Niagara Falls

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Thursday 14th October
Toronto to Niagara Falls

We awoke to crappy weather today. It was cold and raining. We were to do a walking tour but because of the weather Henk being the resourceful guide that he is, took us underground and showed us city hall and an interesting mural made in relief with thousands of nails.

We jumped on the bus and made our way to the CN Tower, a massive structure that seemed to breach the low clouds. This was an optional tour that the five of us decided to take, I'm glad we did because even though the weather wasn't the best the view was fantastic. Looking out over the sprawling city of Toronto and Lake Ontario. It was cold and windy but enjoyable.

From Toronto we took the relatively short bus ride to Niagara Falls, the weather stayed wet unfortunately. Our first stop was at a spot downstream from the falls called the "whirlpool". the whirlpool is like a huge bowl as big as two footy fields, the undercurrent looks huge, the trees around were in the stages of changing colour again and a skyrail above it. We then did a drive by of the Niagara Falls. The falls are made up of two distinct flows of water, all in one area but the smaller one is in the US and the larger more spectacular falls called Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian Side. It was Ana mazing sight to see so much water cascading over the 500 foot falls that send a plume of mist into the air 3 times the height of falls themselves.

We were due for lunch so we went to the Skylon tower which we dined in a revolving restaurant that gave perfect views of the falls and surrounding areas. A nice steak lunch was had, but once again some really rude waitstaff. Lucky the tip was included because they would have got diddly squat.

The rain was really set in now as we ventured to the legendary "Maid of the Mist". I had noticed the people coming off the previous boat very soaked. We grabbed our supplied Maid of the Mist rain poncho, this wasn't the most stylish article in our wardrobe but we all put them on in anticipation of a drenching. The wind was howling on the top open deck and filling our loose plastic tops. I feel like I repeat myself when I say that the experience was fantastic, but we have crammed so much into this trip it's inevitable to say it. The boat took us so close to the falls you could see the rocks sticking out of the water next to us, huge plumes of mist would hit us when the wind was coming our way. I really don't know how long the boat ride went for. Teresa snapped a few pics and then placed the camera under her jacket because everything was getting soaked. As cold and wet that it was, I'm so glad we did it. Niagara and the Grand Canyon, two of the iconic natural wonders of the US we have seen now, in a way I'm kicking myself we didn't organise to do Yosemite National Park from San Francisco, but there is only so much you can do. 

We stayed at the Radisson on the Canadian side of the falls which was very comfortable. Later that evening we walked back to the Skylon tower observation deck to get a view of the falls at night. The falls are illuminated at night and usually change colours every five minutes, but tonight they were pink for the whole night, this was in support of Pink Ribbon Day, which was a nice thing to see. 

We had a very late dinner at a restaurant called Applebees. Carmel and I had delicious baby back ribs, they were superb. It was a very rare evening, we didn't have dessert.                    

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